“It’s a day against a softer thrower and those young guys aren’t crazy about soft throwers – old guys too for that matter,” Reds manager Dusty Baker said. “I believe in playing everybody. Valdez has had pretty good success against Zito. So has Stubbs.”

*RHP Nick Masset is awaiting the results of a new MRI taken Wednesday on his injured right shoulder. Masset said the test was to compare the shoulder’s progress compared to the original MRI he had in late March.

“Progress? Yeah, I feel good. I’m making some big steps towards being healthy,” Masset said. “I’ve been working really hard and doing a lot of therapy and everything they’ve asked me to. We’ll see what it looks in there and build off of that. Hopefully I have another attempt to throw towards the end of the week. We’ll see how it feels.”

*INF Miguel Cairo is making progress with the strained left hamstring that put him on the DL on April 17.

“I ran and hit the last two days and had no discomfort,” Cairo said. “It’s just one day at a time right now.”

Here is what I find most comical. A nice win last night and there are three comments on Sheldon’s postgame blog. Now a somewhat debatable lineup and everyone has a comment. Oh well. Back to .500 after tonight. I’ll be there. Game 2 of 25 for me.
Curt

Everyone calm down…Valdez, if he is to be an effective back-up, needs some time at short. Moreover, Cozart has struggled at the plate as of late, in case you haven’t noticed. The kid could probably use the mental break. And Frazier will get his shot too to keep him sharp, but he certainly is not now (I suspect never will be) an everyday player…

These are the moves that make me mad even when the team is playing well. Why does Dusty have to mess with things? Stubbs is hitting the best he ever has being in front of Votto. Even if you are going to give Cozart a break (which unless he is hurt I don’t get) why not just plug his replacement in the same spot for one game so that you don’t mess up two spots and possibly derail Stubbs who is hitting as well as he has in his career.
This is typical Dusty. He waits way too long to make a change when things aren’t going well. Then make an unnecessary change the day after we score the most runs of the year. It makes me want to pull bang my head against the wall.

We have a day game tomorrow. Cozart gets tonight off. He will be in the lineup with Frazier, Heisey and Mesoroco tomorrow. It’s a long season and everybody needs to stay fresh. Stubbs needs to get on tonight, steal second and Valdez can bunt him to third. Votto or Phillips will take it from there.

Lefty bat that makes contact. Make a lot of sense. Just didn’t work out. That happens more often than not in baseball. Sounds like you might need to take up a sport that contains a higher success rate.

Is that a serious comment Denny??? I really want you to look at the numbers and think about this one for a second. The guy has 3 hits in 29 at bats, ALL AGAINST RIGHTIES, since he has become a Red. He is batting .103. That was a huge spot in that game because we were still down one. Harris is batting .103 this year all verse RIGHT HANDED PITCHING…WORST ON THE TEAM! so to be blunt about it, wtf are you talking about? I’m sick of this lefty bs that rides behind Willy Harris. I would have rather seen any other guy on our bench come up in that situation. Harris should not even be on this roster AT ALL. A contact hitter does not mean a thing when you cant get the ball out of the infield. Poor poor poor move by Dusty with how bad Harris has been this year. Especially to put him in there in such a key situation like that. Before this year, I used to question why people were so hard on Dusty. This year, he is showing me why people have those complaints.

So Denny, say the same situation occurs tonight…..You have no problem with Dusty sending Harris up there again?

Yes, I would do it again, and I think Baker will too under identical circumstances.. It was the seventh inning. Excluding the alternate catcher, which you simply can’t burn, a manager has only four bats available. He wants Cozart for late-inning defensive switch, which he later did, leaving three, including Harris himself. That means Heisey and Frazier, both right-handed bats but neither of whom are good at making contact which is what that exact situation demans. Plus, you need a bat or two for the eighth and ninth, and perhaps one other than the catch should you go into extras. There are many reasons for giving that choice a whirl. It just didn’t work out, is all.

Lets agree to disagree. Frazier has hit the ball hard in his at bats and I would give the kid trying to prove himself to the club and fans that he belongs a chance to do something big in that game. Not a guy that has the worst average vs righties on the whole team…I mean it’s pretty bad when you look at the averages on the team and the only two batters/pitchers on the team below Harris in average are Latos and Bailey. Three starting pitchers have a better average than him. I know it’s in a lot less of at bats…But that should never happen.

Why was contact needed there? If a guy struck out, we still had runners on 2nd and 3rd with still only one out! I’d rather send a guy up there that could send a deep fly ball out there for a sac fly. Send a guy up there and let him try to hit it out of the park. If he strikes out, were in no worse shape then what Harris did for us there. And we all know Harris is not going to put the ball in the outfield.

Archives

Meta

The following are trademarks or service marks of Major League Baseball entities and may be used only with permission of Major League Baseball Properties, Inc. or the relevant Major League Baseball entity: Major League, Major League Baseball, MLB, the silhouetted batter logo, World Series, National League, American League, Division Series, League Championship Series, All-Star Game, and the names, nicknames, logos, uniform designs, color combinations, and slogans designating the Major League Baseball clubs and entities, and their respective mascots, events and exhibitions.